Synod reveals truth about Africa says Vatican spokesman.
(Oct.14,2009): The Synod of bishops on Africa currently taking place in the Vatican,
is a help to counteract the negative image many have of the continent, said the
Director of Vatican’s Press Office, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi. He made the
statement in the most recent edition of the Vatican Television program “Octava Dies”
during which, he evaluated the first week of the Second Special Assembly for
Africa of the Synod of Bishops. In particular, Fr. Lombardi quoted the
statements of the synod's relator-general, Cardinal Peter Turkson, Archbishop of Cape
Coast, Ghana, who said: " For too long Africa has been accused by the media of everything
that humanity abhors. The time has come to change pace and to tell the truth about
Africa with love, promoting the continent's development, which will bring the well-being
of the whole world." "It is hoped," Fr. Lombardi said, "that the pursuit of reconciliation,
justice and peace, which is eminently Christian by the fact that it is rooted in love
and mercy, will re-establish the unity of the Church - family of God in the continent.
And that the latter, as salt of the earth and light of the world, will cure man's
wounded heart, in which nests the cause of everything that de-stabilizes the African
continent. "In this way, the continent and its islands will understand the opportunities
and the gifts that God has given them," said Fr.Lombardi. According to the Vatican
spokesman, the assembly is "truly African and universal at the same time" and it "will
offer a formidable contribution to reaffirm and present to the universal Church and
to the world Africa's dignity, too often forgotten -- its human, cultural, spiritual,
religious and Christian dignity." Father Lombardi mentioned in particular the intervention
in the Synod of Patriarch Abuna Paulus of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, who noted
that his country "was the second nation to believe in Christ, since Apostolic times."
"Christ's message is not a colonial legacy," explained Father Lombardi. "From the
beginning it was integrated in African cultures and is able to descend to their heart,
to heal it and bring fruitfulness of life for the whole human family." "With respect
and love," the spokesman concluded, "we must learn to tell the whole truth about Africa."